Some time back, whenever I received a call or text from an unknown number, I would rush to Facebook and search for the number to find out who it belonged to. Truecaller also offers the same service, allowing people to identify the caller or texter.
How many loyalty programs have you registered to? Most of the local stores have significantly invested in collecting their client’s data to understand their purchase behaviors. We, the clients, however, readily provide the data without really considering data privacy. Another interesting scenario is on social media. Social media provides most of our data to either businesses or any other interested parties. Speaking or interested parties, “Joe” in “You” is an excellent example of how social media can provide information about a person without their knowledge.
All of these lead to a discussion of data privacy. Let’s get on it. What is data privacy? And how does it affect us as individuals?
Data privacy is concerned with how data is used, the consent, the notice, and the obligations towards regulations. Speaking of regulations, have you heard about the kinds of GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA? These are all examples of data protection regulation policies.
Data privacy focuses on how data is collected on a legal basis, how it is shared with third parties, and what regulation exists to protect r safeguard the data. This also implies that data privacy is related to data security, as it involves all the listed cases above and how it can be safeguarded throughout the process.
The idea of data privacy lies entirely in personal identifiable information. Abbreviated as Pii, personally identifiable information relates to the information that identifies an individual and can be used to identify who you are.
Imagine a situation where you are a loyal subscriber to a couple of good consumer stores, and your identity is used to hold all the information about what you consume and when you consume it. Now add the idea of using either mobile or credit card purchases at the different stores. The credit card companies know where you make most of your purchases and can collaborate with numerous stores to determine which products or amounts you consume on a monthly and annual basis. The excellent consumer stores know hat time of the month to stock what products. The credit card company knows your income and your savings, so your financial data is readily available to them. The mobile company knows where your device is most of the time. This is normal, right?
How about combining all this data into one package? With so much data, as a good consumer store, I can find strategies to operate my store based on consumer needs and when they are most likely to purchase certain products. I can also target different customers with customized ads for discounts on products they want and/or are expected to be interested in. This is made possible by data collection. The world has moved from the era of incurring losses due to unanticipated risk to one where they can plan what to have at what time and be sure they will come to purchase it.
For those of us who love TV series, I bet you have watched the series “Person of Interest.” Whereas the series is focused on artificial intelligence, the part I want to focus on is the fictitious company “Life Trace.” At one point, the CEO of that company bids on a contract and tends to know some very private information about one of the members of the contracting team. He gives the guy a baby gift, which at first is surprising since the family has not informed anyone that they are expecting. This is the power of data. It is interesting that the CEO then states that the loyalty program at one of the stores the couple uses provides the data they have used to understand all their clients.
Data companies are making obscene amounts of money by analyzing and selling business intelligence data to other third-party companies. In one of my favorite TED Talks from 2015, Stuart Lacey states that for every service you enjoy but do not pay for, you or your data are the product you provide as payment.
Let’s go to Facebook, and most people have been angered by the numerous ads popups of things thy have just talked bout or have just googled on or just took a photo of and shared on your page or messaged it to a friend with the caption “look at this …”.(unfortunately, it never tells you who the girl who sat next to you in the bus is!) Facebook, as a data company, collects all the necessary information to ensure that when they approach third-party companies that might be interested in your data, it would be highly likely that the company will buy your data at a heartbeat. Everyone likes to be prepared. Fortunately for these modern businesses, it is now more likely than ever to be ready with strategies for business processes. Everyone is readily giving out their data. Others are lured to provide their data with promises of discounted prices if they register as loyalty customers. The loyalty points earned are all the same as you telling the store “ at this point of the month exactly at 7 p.m., I will come for these snacks and other essentials since tomorrow I have a date.” The credit company can later advise the store to ensure that it stocks flowers since you are more likely to buy them on the following day for your date.
We live in a data era that has resulted in the loss of privacy, not only data privacy but also personal privacy.
Data regulation idea.
Luckily for us, there is a chance to remain a little safe. Countries and legislators have worked to establish data protection policies that govern how publicly provided information can be protected. The policies, in general, protect the data on the basis of regulating how the data is transmitted, shared, and consent on its use. (I am sure we mentioned this earlier, but there is no harm in repeating. With these regulations, however, numerous loopholes remain. While some policies restrict what data can be collected and the consent that is needed before the data is collected, companies make sure to complicate the consent acquisition process by hitting you with thousands of words in their terms of agreement, which very few people, unless they have run out of reading material, read.
The idea of data privacy in this era is, therefore, a battle among corporations, regulations, and individuals over what data is provided and how it is protected. While the government struggles to limit the amount of data that is collected on a person, the corporations are busy looking through the loopholes to make sure they can collect as much data as possible — and yes, as a person, you are left with either not using a product to protect your information or using the product and risk giving out your data.
But is this all bad?
Look at it this way: when the local store knows when you might need something, they will make sure the product is on the shelves. This is advantageous since the struggle has been largely reduced. Similarly, the health industry can understand its people's health habits and create policies to enhance and manage their health. What if the government and the use of data? Food insecurity cases can be easily addressed by understanding people's different characteristics. If you knew how much food you are likely to consume within a given period, it would be possible to control how you spend your money on food. It would also be easy to save and accumulate money in your savings account without risking any deductions for early withdrawals. The government can also use data on the country's population to budget how much it will spend on food and health for its people. All of these are examples of data use. But data privacy is necessary altogether. People need to be protected. People need to protect their data and not give it out freely. People are making money out of what they know about you.